Saturday, November 30, 2013

Saturday Post

Bill Elliott, a cancer patient who told Fox News' Megyn Kelly his insurance was canceled because of Obamacare, now says he is the target of an IRSaudit, The Blaze
reported Friday. A health insurance broker who helped Elliot keep his
insurance is also the target of an IRS audit dating back to 2003, FrontPageMag added.

Elliott appeared on Fox earlier in November to explain that his plan
was canceled due to new regulations because his cancer was considered
“beyond a catastrophic pre-existing condition.”

Elliott was given one choice: A $1,500 per month plan to replace the
plan he had been paying $180 per month for. Elliott said he decided to
pay the fine and "let nature take its course."

After the issue had been worked out with the insurance company,
Elliott received a notice from the IRS informing him of the audit.

“Monday I got a certified letter, I went down and got it and it’s
from the IRS and they are auditing my books from 2009,” he told
Charleston, S.C., station WQSC.

At the time, he said, he worked for the government and didn't own a
business. Moreover, he said, he's paid his taxes every year.

The notice also said that “due to federal budget cuts,” the meeting between him and the IRS won’t take place until April 2014.

This truly is a mafia administration with the Teflon Don-in-Chief at the top. It might as well put decapitated horses' heads in people's beds and be done with.

North Korea state media claimed Saturday that an elderly U.S. tourist
detained for more than a month has apologized for alleged crimes during
the Korean War and for “hostile acts” against the state during a recent
trip.

Pyongyang has been accused of previously coercing statements from
detainees. There was no way to reach Newman and determine the
circumstances of the alleged confession. But it was riddled with stilted
English and grammatical errors, such as “I want not punish me.”

“I have been guilty of a long list of indelible crimes against DPRK
government and Korean people,” Newman purportedly wrote in a four-page
statement, adding: “Please forgive me.”

What is North Korea's game here? It would not be the first time North Korea forced a false confession out of someone, North Korean or not. This also falls on the heels of China's belligerence over the Senkaku Islands and North Korea's perennial nuclear arms/sanctions dance. It also does not help that aside from the US, there is no real military opposition to North Korea or its boss, China. Kim Jong-Un may very well be attempting to coerce the West into undoing its scant sanctions or just trying to be a bully knowing full well no one will stand up to it. Either way, it is those who enter North Korea, whatever their motives, who will suffer.

In the video, Manitoba Progressive Conservative Leader Brian Pallister —
who was also a federal Conservative MP — wishes everybody happy
holidays, even those "infidel atheists."

Now, let's relax. There is no point in one's taking offense over what is really a flippant remark. I thought someone might wear the "infidel atheist" crack as a badge of honour. I mean- what are you going to do on Christmas Day, anyway? Nothing?

Subsequently, there began a trickle of questions about the translation of one of the most contentious passages (click here and here and here for initial skepticism, and here for skepticism about the skepticism, which itself was met with some skepticism and has been since updated with a correction).

Most papal documents are released in Latin, which has been the lingua franca of
the multilingual Roman Catholic Church for centuries. But it's not easy
to find someone fluent enough in Latin to translate long, complicated
documents, laden with religious references and idioms. So, journalists
have relied on the Vatican's own English version.

But in the case of Evangelii Gaudium, trusting that translation may be problematic.